Christmas came early this year! Bye-Bye Trump!
How A Christmas Story perfectly sums up the 2020 election. — by Brian Moniz
You know that movie we see on TV for 24 hours every Christmas about the funny little boy named Ralphie who is on a mission to get an “Official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time,” from Santa for Christmas? That movie is A Christmas Story, and while that movie is simply a silly holiday movie for families to enjoy generation after generation, there is one key scene that perfectly sums up and reflects exactly what happened in this past election.
In case anyone reading this has not seen the film before, A Christmas Story is a fun family movie about a young boy named Ralphie who wants a BB gun for Christmas more than anything in the world. Everyone around Ralphie tells him there is no way he is getting a gun for Christmas because “guns are dangerous,” and “you’ll shoot your eye out!” As the days before Christmas pass by, we witness Ralphie and his friends constantly harassed and chased down by the town bully, Scut Farkus, and his sidekick, Grover Dill. In every scene where he shows up, Scut beats up and bullies the smaller kids of the playground. He twists kids’ arms behind their backs until they scream “UNCLE!”, and chases Ralphie and his friends down the neighborhood alleys on their way to and from school. The bullies take great joy and pleasure in seeing other kids cry, and love to inflict as much pain and fear into anyone weaker than them, expecting to always get away with it and for anyone else who sees it to fear them in the future, too.
One day, on his walk home from school, Ralphie is minding his own business when a snowball hits him hard in the face between his glasses and his right eye. When he takes his glasses off and adjusts his eyes, he sees Scut and Grover sitting on a junk car laughing hysterically at Ralphie’s pain. The snowball made Ralphie cry, and as he wipes away his tears, we hear Grover shout, “Hey four-eyes, how’d you like the snowball sandwich? Maybe you’d like another one?!” Scut then steps off the junk car and stands in front of Ralphie and says, “What…are you gonna cry now? Come on crybaby, cry for me! Come on! Crrrrrrryyyyyy!” and mock-cries in front of Ralphie.
We hear Ralphie’s adult monologue speak, “Deep in the recesses of my brain, a tiny red-hot flame began to grow!” Suddenly, Ralphie explodes from his feet and lunges at Scut Farkus, tackling him to the ground and beating him mercilessly! “Something had happened, a fuse blew, and I had gone out of my skull!” For the next couple of minutes, Ralphie is punching Scut all over his face, chest and making his nose bleed. Grover steps off the car and shouts, “Hey! Hey kid!” and tries to pull Ralphie off of Scut, only to get punched in the gut himself. Grover picks himself up and runs away shouting to Ralphie, “I’m telling my Dad!” Ralphie then puts his hands around Scuts neck and slams him into the ground over and over. It is not until Ralphie’s mother shows up and pulls Ralphie off of Scut that he finally stops, collects himself, then goes home crying. Scut lays on the snow, humiliated, defeated, and finally understands that the kids are no longer going to take his bullying anymore. His power over them is gone and his days of trolling everyone are over!
Scut Farkus is Donald Trump.
For the last four years, Trump has done nothing but bully, harass, victimize, marginalize, ostracize, tease, and intimidate anyone who does not fall into line and just does what he tells them. He literally suffers from malignant narcissistic personality disorder, therefore not only does he feel the need to bully anyone who stands up to his ruthless ways, he feels that he must absolutely destroy them.
Grover Dill represents every Trump supporter who sat back over the last four years and cheered on Trump, enabling him every time he did something both morally and constitutionally wrong. “F*** your feelings!” was the favorite motto in the Trump camp. Trump supporters could not wait for Trump to win a second term so they could watch half the country cry for four more years all over again.
It would be too simplistic to say that Ralphie represents Joe Biden. Ralphie represents every single minority group, every single liberal, democrat, independent, anti-Trump Republican, and true patriot who had enough of their schoolyard bully pushing them around and making them feel less worthy as an American and as a human being. Ralphie was every American who voted against Donald Trump and kicked him out of office.
When Ralphie punched Grover Dill and made him run away whining, “I’m telling my Dad”, the word “Dad” represents Fox News. Dill, like all Trump supporters in the media, was everyone who enabled Trump to behave in a disgusting manner to everyone they did not like. Whenever they were prevented or shamed from bullying another person or group, they ran to Fox News to tattle-tale on Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson’s shows about how unfairly they’re being treated and using that platform to make Trump supporters and MAGA hat wearers feel like they’re the ones being bullied. Puh-lease!
While it is great that now many Trump supporters want to unify and put the past behind us and unite, where was that before? Where were you when Donald Trump was steamrolling over Transgender Americans? Native Americans? African Americans? Asian Americans? Mexican Americans? Gay and Lesbian Americans? Women? Muslim Americans? And anyone else who isn’t white, heterosexual, Christian and a Trump supporter? It really is funny how the tune of Trump supporters is much more positive now that their Bully-in-Chief will no longer be giving them the strength to harass anyone they want anymore. We all know had Trump won again, instead of saying, “Let’s come together and heal,” they would be saying something in the ballpark of, “Now we own you, Libtards!” and laugh at our sadness once again.
It is extremely important that we do put the past aside and try to find common ground to unite, and that is not going to happen by bullying Trumpers as much as they bullied us; but Trump supporters need to accept that we have a lot of celebrating to do for a while, and no one cheering at Trump’s demise should feel guilty for doing so. Trump is a bully and a bigot, and the world is going to be a better place with his firing. We are finally free from an abusive relationship. Yes, we need to work together as Americans, but we also earned this time to breathe and celebrate, and we are going to savor every second of it!
I hope Biden can unite us all and help us heal, and if he does, I hope he also shows Trump supporters that it is always better to put power and control in the hands of mature, sane, hardworking individuals and keep it out of the hands of the schoolyard bully.
As for Trump today, he is refusing to leave office and acknowledge Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. All I have to say to Trump is if you refuse to leave, the secret service and U.S. military will forcibly remove you from office on January 20th. Don’t believe me? Then stay there and find out for yourself…
I triple-dog-dare you!
About the Author:
Brian Moniz is from San Jose, Calif. He studied filmmaking and writing at San Jose State University from 2010–2013 and got his bachelor’s degree in Radio-TV-Film. Throughout his high school and college years, he worked as a music and movie journalist and critic. Having only recently come out of the closet himself in 2014, Brian enjoys writing about LGBTQ issues. His only regret when it comes to his sexuality is that he didn’t come out sooner.
